iOS 11 includes a whopping list of new features, enhancements and security improvements. Lack of storage has always been one of the issues that iPhone and iPad users have been experiencing due to the apps & games installed and the space required for the software updates. With iOS 11, users get a handy new feature that allows their iPhone or iPad to automatically uninstall apps that have not been used in a while.

The feature is called “Offload Unused Apps” and uses Siri intelligence to determine your usage of apps. The feature’s description states that the data and documents related to the apps uninstalled using this uninstall apps feature will remain on the device. And when the user decides to reinstall the app the operating system will place back the saved data and the documents given that the application is still available in the App Store.

The Offload Unused Apps feature is disabled by default. To enable the feature simply follow these steps:

Go to Settings.

Tap on iTunes & App Stores.

Scroll down to bottom and switch the toggle next to Offload Unused Apps to ON position.

This will prompt iOS to delete those apps from the device that the users rarely uses. Please note that this will only delete the app, not the data and settings belonging to that app. Upon reinstalling the removed app, data and settings belonging to that app will be restored.

If you don’t want to depend on Apple for automatic deletion of rarely used apps, you can manually choose which app to remove while retaining its data and settings. Here is how to:

Go to Settings.

Tap on iPhone Storage.

Scroll down and tap on your desired app.

Tap on Offload App. (if you want to remove Settings and Data as well, tap on Delete instead.)

The Settings screen shows the storage taken by the app and its data separately.

This feature will help in making more room for your photos, videos, documents, and other personal data. Apple has done the right thing to disable the feature by default. Otherwise, novice users would have been mad over discovering iOS had deleted their apps for seemingly for no apparent reason.